Woody Allen in Venice: #MeToo has been good for women, but cancel culture can be ‘silly’
Woody Allen has voiced his support for the #MeToo movement while promoting his new film, adding that he sometimes finds cancel culture “silly”.
The director’s career has lately been mired by a recent refocusing in social media on an allegation made against him in 1992, when his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, said he had sexually assaulted her in an attic at the time of the custody battle between Allen and Dylan’s adoptive mother, Mia Farrow.
The allegations were investigated twice and no charges brought. Allen has always maintained his innocence. Yet restatements of the allegations by Dylan and her brother Ronan Farrow, have led many to condemn Allen.
Talking to Variety ahead of the premiere of his 50th film, Coup de Chance (Stroke of Luck), Allen, 87, said he remained an advocate of #MeToo, but with caveats.
“I think any movement where there’s actual benefit, where it does something positive, let’s say for women, is a good thing,” he said. “When it becomes silly, it’s silly. I read instances where it’s very beneficial, where the situation has been very beneficial for women, and that’s good. When I read of some instances in a story in the paper where it’s silly, then it’s foolish.”
Asked to clarify, Allen continued: “It’s silly, you know, when it’s not really a feminist issue or an issue of unfairness to women. When it’s being too extreme in trying to make it into an issue when, in fact, most people would not regard it as any kind of offensive situation.”
In 2018, Allen’s four-picture deal with Amazon was cancelled in part apparently in reaction to jocular remarks by the director that he could be the poster boy for the #MeToo movement. Allen later sued the studio for $68m (the case was settled privately in 2019, according to reports).
Speaking over the weekend, Allen stood by those remarks, saying: “The truth is, it’s true. I’ve made 50 films. I’ve always had very good parts for women, always had women in the crew, always paid them the exact same amount that we paid men, worked with hundreds of actresses, and never, ever had a single complaint from any of them at any point.
“Not a single one ever said: ‘Working with him, he was mean or he was harassing.’ That’s just not been an issue. My editors have been women. I don’t have any problem with that. It’s never been on my mind in any way. I hire who I think is good for the role. As I said, I’ve worked with hundreds of actresses, unknown actresses, stars, mid-level actresses. Not one has ever complained and there’s nothing to complain about.”
Pressed to comment on the 2021 mini-series in which the Farrows put forward their case against Allen, Allen